Sandro Tonali: Tottenham's Record Signing Exceeds Expectations

Roberto De Zerbi did not bother dressing it up.

“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought.”

For a manager who chooses his words carefully, that is a striking line about Tottenham’s new £100million midfielder, the most expensive signing in the club’s history and the headline act of a lavish summer.

Spurs have already crashed through the £300m barrier in transfer spending, a figure that will climb again once the £75m deal for Savinho from Manchester City – plus up to £10m in add-ons – is finally signed off. Yet amid all that outlay, one move still towers above the rest: Tonali from Newcastle, £100m for a 26-year-old who did not score once in 32 Premier League appearances last season.

De Zerbi is not interested in that statistic. He is interested in the person he has just brought into the heart of his project.

Brescia bond, London stage

The relationship between the two men did not start in north London. It began in Brescia.

De Zerbi grew up there. Tonali grew up as a footballer there, spending nine years with the club across his youth and senior career. That shared footballing hometown has long been a point of connection, a reference point in conversations and a foundation of trust.

So when De Zerbi was asked on Friday what he had made of Tonali in their first weeks together at Spurs, he already had a picture in his mind. Working with him every day has clearly sharpened it.

“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought,” he repeated. “He is better than I thought before working with him as a player and as a guy.

“I know his family, his agents, and I know they all are good people.

“I’m very happy to work with him and I think he’s the right player in the right place. Especially because we want to put him inside of the project.

“He has the right qualities, the right personality, the right values, to stay in this place.”

Those are not throwaway compliments. De Zerbi is effectively nailing Tonali’s name to the dressing-room door marked “core leadership”.

Beyond the numbers

On paper, a £100m midfielder with zero league goals last season invites scrutiny. Spurs saw something else.

Tonali’s reputation has been built on balance. He can screen a defence, build play, and still drive a team forward. That complete profile, honed over recent seasons, convinced Tottenham to commit a record fee to prise him from Newcastle and hand him the keys to their midfield.

The numbers on the spreadsheet say one thing. De Zerbi’s verdict points to something far more important for Tottenham: a record signing who already looks like the right man, in the right place, at exactly the moment the club is trying to redefine itself.